Our first of its kind integrated energy system is demonstrating the commercial potential for localised bio-based energy provision in urban areas.

Bio-fuelledCombined Heatand Power Plant

ThermalStore

AbsorptionChiller

EBRICoolingDemand

EBRIHeatingDemand

Birmingham DistrictHeating Scheme

ElectricChiller

The National Grid

EBRI Building

EBRI Pilot Plant

Student Guild Building

(Electricity)

(Heat)

V2G System

Car

Nissan Leaf

ElectricChiller Meter

AbsorptionChiller Meter

Absorption Chiller Heat Meter

EBRI Heat Meter

Biomass CHP

400kWel internal combustion engine modified to take a wider variety of first and second generation oils. The engine also has the capability to run in a bi-fuel mode when our gasifier is operating.

NEXT District Heating Scheme

District Heating Scheme

Connection to a city wide heat network. This first of a kind connection enables a third party heat generator such as EBRI to export low carbon heat for use by other customers on the city network.

NEXT Thermal Store

Thermal Store

The thermal store can only hold heat for a few hours and has limited capacity. We optimise the way we charge and discharge the thermal store to increase overall efficiency.

NEXT Vehicle to grid

Vehicle to grid

The vehicle to grid (V2G) charge post allows our electric vehicle to discharge power back into the micro-grid. We use this ability to manipulate the overall load profile of the buildings and run our whole system most cost efficiently.

NEXT Car Battery

Car Battery

The electric vehicle (EV) battery has a capacity of 21kWhel which can be rapidly charged to 80% within 30 mins demonstrating the benefits of load deferral and peak load lopping using EVs.

NEXT Biomass CHP

Biomass CHP

400kWel internal combustion engine modified to take a wider variety of first and second generation oils. The engine also has the capability to run in a bi-fuel mode when our gasifier is operating.

NEXT Title 2

Visualisation

Micro-Grid Economics

Costs

Bio-fuel cost p/lt

Revenue

Car Connected to Grid

Heat price p/kWh

Electricity price p/kWh

EV Charge price p/kWh

Decentralised micro-grids such as ours are becoming increasingly
common as an efficient, low carbon and cost effective method for
meeting energy needs. For decentralised energy to grow, it is
important that micro-grid systems can generate sufficient revenue
from the sale of the produced energy and through any supporting
governmental support.

Using the sliders you can set the rates charged for energy
produced by EBRI’s micro-grid. Set the cost and revenue rates
using live data to make the system break-even or make a profit.